Power-assisted light vehicles such as bicycles, pedicabs and wheelchairs are well known in existing practice. Many such vehicles employ electrical power-assist with an electrical energy storage device such as a battery. However, all such vehicles in existing practice have limited range of operation due to the finite storage capacity of the energy storage device. Once the stored energy has been exhausted, power-assist is no longer available until there is access to an external energy source which can re-charge the storage device. Such limited range is a severe disadvantage which detracts from the usefulness of these devices in existing practice.
There therefore exists a need for a power-assist system which does not require any external charging and therefore has effectively unlimited range.